


reductio ad pacem

by oikanoo



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Gen, Hux is Not Nice, M/M, Post-Starkiller, hux brings kylo back, kylo flies a ship while dying, two angsty balls of anger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-07 13:08:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11624181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oikanoo/pseuds/oikanoo
Summary: He reaches out gloved fingers towards what was once Starkiller but is now just a bitter, bitter memory, and thinks about Kylo Ren and his destruction.He thinks, and thinks, and knows not much time is left.





	1. hux

**Author's Note:**

> i am working on the other stuff i promise,,  
> anyways i watched the force awakens twice in a week so naturally i have some poorly written feels. have fun

Hux stares at the planet and watches it burn.

No, not burn, exactly. It sort of cracks, from the inside, splinters and cleaves like a broken body and leaves behind just a corpse of fluttering dust.

Somewhere on that husk of a world is Kylo Ren.

Hux's fingers grip the railing of the balcony a little tighter. He's safe here, on the Finalizer, on his home for long long years, the birthplace of the crumbling masterpiece in front of him, but Ren is trapped, unable to leave a burning prison even with his mystical powers and reading of minds.

Does he care if Ren dies? Of course he does, though not for personal reasons, particularly. Ren dying would undermine whatever plans Snoke has for the two of them, two mismatched puzzle pieces jammed together and set ablaze. It is all for Snoke, and for glory, but Hux can't see the glory now. Snoke promises it. So he will continue working, and never stop.

He reaches out gloved fingers towards what was once Starkiller but is now just a bitter, bitter memory, and thinks about Kylo Ren and his destruction.

He thinks, and thinks, and knows not much time is left.

The planet cleaves into halves and quarters as Hux calls for a shuttle, a ship, anything to get two people to the crumbling planet and three back. He boards behind the singular pilot, who is shaking in her boots, and latches the door closed behind him.

It takes all of a minute to reach the planet. During that time, Hux thinks of (in quick succession) Snoke, Starkiller, Kylo Ren, his own pride, his next steps, his diminishing budget, and Kylo Ren.

They touch down, and disembark. Hux barely avoids a crevasse that swallows the pilot whole and misses Hux by a few inches.

Her screams as she falls are strangely calming to Hux, reminding him of morality and the fact that they are this much closer to their goal. Starkiller is dead, but there will be another, one stronger. Nobody will stand in their way.

His way.

Hux starts to patrol the area and hopes the ship won't disappear too. He can feel waves of agony and anger radiating from a copse of dying trees, so the General heads there, a hand on his blaster. Of course the Knight of Ren can't even control his feelings. Of course Hux can feel every single stab of agony and pain that goes through his body and his mind.

Hux finds Kylo on his back on the ground, white contrasting with the dark red oozing out of practically everywhere and staining the purity of snow and skin with the gross sin of tears and blood. His mask is off, revealing a face that seems to be in a tormented sleep.

"Get up," Hux says, and his voice cracks. He feels detached and distant but still so _angry_. He isn't even sure if Ren is even alive, but he knows that Ren must be. He _must_. Hux speaks as if the anger in his voice alone is enough to rejuvenate the dead, but there is still nothing from the figure on the floor.

" _Ren_ ," Hux says, louder, stronger, as a chasm collapses besides him. "Ren, get up. _Now_." If this boy doesn't get up right now, he will throw him into the chasm himself.

Kylo must realize the anger in his voice, because he blinks his dying eyes and struggles into one arm, coughing up blood and dripping everywhere.

But he collapses again, gurgling and coughing, on the brink of death.

Hux runs a hand through his own gelled hair and doesn't care about the snow or the sweat or the cold. He strides over to Ren and hauls the bloody black mess over his shoulder, still coughing and bleeding. "Ren, stay awake," Hux snaps, panic slowly overriding his systemic calm and order as the most powerful human being he has ever known - Snoke isn't human to him, wasn't ever - collapses externally, internally, feeling like a star who has gone out.

He carries Ren back to the ship and tosses him onto a bench, then hurries to the controls and tries his best to lift them into the air.

From behind him, Ren gives an agonized groan and mutters, "I can... pilot. Just. Help me out."

"You're bleeding to death," he says, but still Hux abandons the controls and grabs the medpac from a drawer, plasters some bacta on Ren's most desperate wounds then hauls his limp body over to the controls. "Keep alive, don't crash the plane," he blabbers, cutting open a hole in Ren's bloody robes and swiping antiseptic over it. He hears Ren whimper in pain then cover it up with a bloody cough. "Pathetic child. I don't care if you cry. Just fly the damn plane."

"Okay- ow," Ren says weakly, and they lift up into the air just as the planet crumbles below them.

Hux steals one last glance at what used to be the pinnacle of his achievements, the grandest of the grand, the base that would scream to the world  _Look at me. I am here._

_I am General Armitage Brendol Hux of the First Order. Look at me. I am here._

But he isn't here, not any more. As the planet disintegrates, Hux looks back to Ren, disgustingly innocent without his mask, face a war of red and white. He is _here_ , now, by the side of a disgraced smuggler's child playing with magic like it is fire. He is _here_ , staring at the ruins of his life's work, feeling something beating and screaming inside but not knowing what it is. He is here, but he suddenly doesn't want to be, he wants to be-

_Arkanis glows with life. Brendol is in the garden, watching a squirrel dig a hole, a bird flying overhead, his cat resting in a patch of sunlight. He lays on his back, on the ground, counting the clouds that drift by slowly and hearing the calming noises of the birds. His head lays in the lap of an older man with a soft voice and gentle hands - not his father, no, but a nanny, a caretaker, someone that was always around, someone that called him 'Bren' and 'Tage' and 'sweetheart' and 'good child'. The man always stroked his hair and told him stories, rocked him to sleep as a baby and tucked him in as a child. Later on, he will pack Brendol's first lunch when he goes to school, and hug him goodbye when he heads to the Academy._

_He will also be the first to be hurt for him, the first to beg and plead and bleed and die for him. The caretaker smoothes his hair down, and doesn't know, doesn't worry._

_Brendol closes his eyes and relaxes into the feeling of the warm hand on his head._

❧


	2. kylo

Kylo lays on the snow and feels the cold envelop him. He feels empty, like the dead - a failure, a simple man, a son.

He shakes the thoughts out of his head, or at least _tries_  - but there's a voice in his head whispering " _Ben, Ben..._ " and it sounds like the man who was once his father, like the woman who was once his mother, like a home that isn't his anymore. He bites down a hiss of pain as Hux's fingers clamp down on his shoulder. The general's are glassy and unfocused, staring out into the void.

But he can see his reflection in Hux's eyes - just a shattered child, full of jealousy and anger and pure unadulterated agony.

"I'm sorry," Kylo tries meekly, throat hurting and raw.

"For what?" Hux asks sharply, eyes refocusing on Kylo's war torn face.

"For- Starkiller," Kylo mumbles, already feeling abashed and humiliated under Hux's piercing gaze.

Hux slaps him.

It doesn't hurt as much as it should - he knows the general is stronger than his slim figure suggests. Hux seems to be paying attention to the wound on his face, trying to be a little more careful despite his unbridled rage. Kylo feels a little happy about that, in a sick kind of way. His cheek burns.

"Don't say _anything_  to me about Starkiller," Hux seeths, relinquishing his grip on Kylo's shoulder. He reaches out for Kylo's throat, almost, then remembers that he would be without a pilot if Kylo died. "You can't fix it now. It doesn't matter anymore."

Kylo stays silent after that.

The wound in Kylo's side is bleeding a river of red down his disgusting black robes, and a drop of blood distorts his vision for a second. He begins to feel unfocused, lost, grounded only by the muted pain of his wounds and the grip of the general's hand on his shoulder.

Kylo abandons the controls for just a moment to dig his fingers gently into the wound on his face, and relishes the clearing fog of pain even as Hux gasps in horror.

"Ren, don't irritate the wound more! You'll bleed to death before we reach the ship, and I plan on getting back alive." The general's tone is ruthless and angry, piercing and blaming, but Kylo peers at him and sees the sadness within. It grounds him, just like his own pain, so he clings onto it as they reach the Finalizer.

The ship's halls are awash with the scent of fear and horror, but cleanly maintained order is still present everywhere Kylo looks. _Hux has done a number on the ship_ , he remarks silently to himself. It used to be annoying, with the utter predictability of the various officers and stormtroopers on the ship, but slowly, as Kylo became more powerful, he became more sensitive to their minds. He felt keenly their insecurities, their hopes, and now, as Hux grips a steadying arm around his waist and they stagger together off the ship, Kylo is assaulted by all the utter terror, permeating through everything, everywhere.

He hisses and clutches at Hux with the hand that is looped around his next. The general snaps at him, quickly - "Be quiet, Ren."

Kylo understands. The officers can't see him like this, weak and bleeding and ready to crumple at the slightest provocation- he'll cause hell here, the strongest force they have encountered weak as the former base planet, now just ashes and fire.

He doesn't need to worry, though. Everyone has their heads lowered and voices raised in commands, staring at datapads and paying no attention to their shamed general and humiliated knight. The masses part in front of them as they walk, unknowingly scared away just by the pure agony Kylo is projecting, Half on purpose and half because he just can't stand it anymore.

He feels like a part of him was left behind on that dying planet, on the bridge where a piece of his soul was lost-

No. Ben is _dead_. Han is _dead_. He hopes the rest of them are, too. He hopes everyone who has ever hurt him is dead and dying, are trapped inside that husk of a world and are burning, dying.

He can almost _feel_  their screams if he tries hard enough, strains his ears - he can hear their tortured cries as they fall into chasms spitting ash and death and burning with liquid fire-

" _Ren_ ," he hears, also, through the fog, something clear and sharp and- " _Ren! Get a fucking grip!_ "

Kylo realizes, belatedly, that he was the one screaming. He is bent over, gasping, clawing at his own bloody throat, feeling raw and sore and _pain_. "No more," he says, raggedly, tears pricking at his eyes, then "I'm sorry."

Hux's strong hands have left him, but Kylo looks up and sees it's because he's unlocking the door to his room ( _Hux's room,_ he tells himself with a sense of detached wonder, _General Hux's room, not Kylo Ren's, not mine)._ The door unlocks, and Hux walks in, back straight, eyes downcast. He spares a single, sharp glance at Kylo, and it brings the knight to his knees.

"Get up," Hux immediately barks, then flinches at his own harsh voice. He coughs, once, and Kylo notices the circles under his eyes and the grease and smoke and ash, everywhere. The general rubs at his eyes for a moment, suddenly seeming so much smaller than before. Hux takes a deep breath. It rattles in his throat. "... I'm sorry. Please, Ren. Come in, before you collapse, so I can treat you properly."

Kylo isn't used to such a quiet, soft voice from such a rigid, cold person. His mind suddenly flashes to Leia, the general with a commanding presence, the princess with an iron fist. The woman with the kind, loving aura, the mother with the most gentle hands. He chokes down a sob and instead rises to his feet, staggers inside and leaves a bloody trail behind him.

Hux supports him all the way to the bed with uncharacteristic gentleness, lays him down like a concerned parent. "I'll fetch the medpac. Stay still," the ginger says, a commanding tone creeping back into his voice. Kylo is content to lay back and close his eyes until Hux's soft footsteps approach the bed. It dips down under his weight, but Kylo doesn't open his eyes, instead concentrating on Hux's hands, wet first with antiseptic, then smoothing bacta over the bloody gashes on his side, his face, his heart.

Hux finishes too soon for Kylo, and he gives voice to a small discontented noise, but the knight is quickly comforted by the feeling of Hux's hands, sticky with bacta, carding carefully through his oiled and bloody hair. He knows, somewhere inside beneath the sudden feeling of peace, that this is the damned General of the First Order, Armitage Hux, someone he shouldn't trust, shouldn't even give the time of day to. He used to hate him, sometime ago. But now, Hux's touch seeps through his bones and permeates his self...

...until he feels nothing.

 

_Ben bites back his tears and sobs. He is strong enough to bear this pain. Besides, it happens a lot, these wounds - he has fallen while playing, and bears the battle scars of various scrapes and cuts and bruises._

_He sits on the steps in front of his house, fists clenched as Leia first applies antiseptic, quickly, methodically, whispering encouraging nothings under her breath at the same time. The cold embrace of bacta gel on open wounds greets him soon enough, and he sighs, in shock and relief. When Leia is done, she wipes her hands, first, then gathers Ben into her arms and kisses his forehead._

_"You really need to be more careful," Leia sighs into his hair, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and leaving them there. Ben sniffs, clutches at her shirt and rests his head on her shoulder. "I'll try, mum," he promises quietly, already feeling the pain dissipate._

_"Please do, Ben. You'll give your poor mother an aneurysm, and kill me while you're at it." Han exits the house and sits down besides them, on Leia's side, of course. He never knew how to deal with volatile angry emotional Ben, so he just parrots whatever Leia says and hopes it's the right thing. But Han is still his father, and he tries, he tries so hard. Ben sniffles again and stands up shakily to give Han a hug too, then Chewbacca, who followed Han and has now taken Ben's spot next to Leia. Ben doesn't mind. He plops his little self down on Chewie's soft lap and feels a smile blossom on his face._

_He feels whole, and light, as he looks at his mismatched, loving family. Leia smiles back at him, but suddenly he's ages older and meters taller and Chewbacca launches him off his lap, pulls out a bowcaster- Han inhales sharply, a bloody hole ripped through his chest, and falls back, soundless, motionless._

_"No," Ben tries to say, but nothing comes out of his mouth. He tries to reach forwards, to save Han, to block the bolt Chewie's aiming at him, to reach for Leia and fall back, crying, into her arms. But her smile is now weary and sad, and even as she reaches her arms out to him, she falls, too._

_Everything falls away, and Ben is left with his own ragged breaths, and the darkness._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was much longer than expected, and i also wrote this in three different sittings w/o much proofreading so i apologize for any inconsistencies,,,,


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